E-Paper
Severe heatwave sears Chandigarh as mercury crosses 40°C, IMD issues orange alert
With the weather expected to be on similar lines over the next two days, Met officials have sounded an orange alert (for severe heatwave) for Chandigarh on Monday and yellow alert (for heatwave) on Tuesday.
The city reeled under a severe heat wave on Sunday as the mercury shot past 40.1°C, the highest it has gone this year.
With the weather expected to be on similar lines over the next two days, Met officials have sounded an orange alert (for severe heatwave) on Monday and yellow alert (for heatwave) on Tuesday.
A severe heatwave is declared in this region when the maximum temperature goes 6.5 degrees above normal or crosses 47°C. On Sunday, the maximum temperature was 7°C above normal.
A heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature goes beyond 40°C and 4.5°C to 6.4°C above normal.
While the maximum temperature had gone beyond 4.5°C on several occasions in the last few days, a heatwave wasn’t declared earlier because the maximum temperature hadn’t crossed 40°C.
IMD Chandigarh director Manmohan Singh said, “We had expected heatwave conditions to start around this time due to the prolonged dry spell and south westerlies active in the region. Similar temperature is expected on Monday but it is likely to dip slightly from Tuesday for a couple of days due to the influence of the fresh Western Disturbance (WD) in the region.”
While the WD is unlikely to bring rain to the city, the hilly areas may see showers.
The city had seen the previous high of the season on April 8 when the day temperature had reached 39.6°C.
The minimum temperature also increased slightly from 20.3°C on Saturday to 20.5°C on Sunday, 3.2°C above normal. Over the next three days, the maximum temperature will remain between 40°C and 41°C while minimum temperature will remain between 21°C and 22°C.
